A large number of Form 7 applications filed by Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and private complainants seeking the deletion of voters’ names have been withdrawn or rejected during scrutiny in Mumbai and adjoining constituencies as the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered action against those filing false objections during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The first FIR was registered in Dharavi three weeks ago. People familiar with the matter said instances of withdrawing Form 7 applications came after the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) told Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to place the burden of proof on complainants and initiate criminal action against false filings.
Some of them could face criminal action for submitting false information. We will initiate action once the formal orders are prepared. “We have strictly instructed officials to verify the complaints first by summoning the complainant. Bharatiya Janata Party’s Atul Deulgaonkar, who is overseeing the SIR process for the party, rejected the SP and Congress allegations. “It is not true that electors belonging to opposition parties are being targeted.
Amit Sanap, electoral registration officer (ERO) for Bhiwandi East, said his office had rejected 80% of the 540 Form 7 applications received for the constituency. Political party BLAs filed 480 of them. “We received 540 applications seeking deletions through Form 7, of which over 450 have been rejected. We found that the people against whom Form 7 applications were filed, alleging that they did not live at the given addresses, were actually residing there,” he said. A senior state election official said EROs were told that the onus of proving an ineligible elector has been registered rests with the objector filing Form 7. We do not want a repeat of the deletion of voters’ names through Form 7, as witnessed in other states. Samajwadi Party’s Rais Shaikh, the Bhiwandi East MLA, said the constituency’s electoral roll had 376,000 electors before the SIR began earlier this year. The constituency, which has a predominantly Muslim population, now has 1.84 lakh electors in the draft list, with 23,000 names deleted on grounds of duplication and death. Another 42,430 electors have been flagged for discrepancies or remain unmapped with their 2002 SIR records. Anyone with credible information about an incorrect registration has the right to file Form 7.
However, we have allowed complainants to withdraw their applications if they wish to do so,” the official said. Whether the information is correct or incorrect has to be determined by the authorised government officer, and there is no question of an incorrect decision being taken,” he said.
The deletion generally take place just ahead of the general elections.” Avantika Lekurwale, Congress BLA from Kamathi constituency in Vidarbha, where allegations of inclusion of bogus voters during assembly elections were levelled said, “Where the BLAs from opposition parties are alert, Form 7 are not filled in large number.
